



J^^/ 




geliancc on (Hob, ouv pojjc of Bxctoxy 





A SERMOK 



PRKAOHED ON THE 



DAY OF FASTING AND PRAYEtl, 



SEPTEMBER 26th, 1861. 



BY KEV. W. Ti. GORDON, D.I)., 

Pastok iiK THE Kefokmei) Uutch Church, ScnkAALUNiiiiKGH, N. .1. 



BY REQUEST. 



NEW-YORK: 
JOHN A. CxRAY, PRINTKR, STEREOTYPRR, AND BINDER, 

K I R K - P R O K BUILDINGS, 

-CORNKK OP FRANKFORT AND JACOB STREKTS. 

1861. 





Ilclhtntc on 60b, our '§o^t of ^uiaxr). 



A SERMO:^^ 



PREACHED OX THE 



DAY OF FASTING AND PRAYER 



SEPTEMBER 26th, 1861. 



BY REV. W. R. GORDON, D.D., 

Pastor of the Reformed Dutcu Church, Schraalenburgh, N. J. 



BY REQXJKSX. 




NEW-YORK: 
JOHN A. GRAY, PRINTER, STEREOTYPER, AND BINDER, 

FIRH-PROOF BUILDINGS, 

CORNER OF FRANKFORT AND JACOB STREETS. 

1861. 



^ 



A 



EELIAIs^CE 0^ GOD, OUPi HOPE OF YICTOEY. 



Isaiah 8 : 11, 12. 

" For the Lord spake thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me 
that I should not Tvalk in the way of this people, saying : Say ye not, 
A Confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A Confederacy ; 
neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid." 

Wheist the Hebrew people liad become so distracted 
by political strife, as to split up among themselves into 
factions and contending parties, the result was a series 
of civil wars that kept them in a whirlpool of national 
troubles for many years. Two kingdoms had at length 
been established, kno^vn as the kingdom of Judah, 
embracing two tribes, and the kingdom of Israel, com- 
posed of ten, who had revolted, when their sorest diffi- 
culties became sources of mutual and bitter vexation. 
In the Old Testament, the principal events of these 
wars are briefly noticed ; but the messages sent them 
from God on political aftairs, by his prophets, are re- 
corded more at large. 

The circumstances giving rise to the text, are briefly 
these. The King of Israel conspired with the King of 
Syria to overthrow the King of Judah, and overrun 
Jerusalem. This occasioned great fear among the Jews, 
and prompted their leaders to seek a similar combina- 
tion of forces with the Assyrian Power, lest their ene- 
mies might prevail. There was, moreover, known to 
be a number of the men of Judah secretly in favor of 



4 RELIANCE ON GOD, OUR HOPE OF VICTORY. 

tlie enemy, wlio encom^aged tlieni by tlie report, that a 
large body of sucli men existed all in readiness to aid 
tlie confederacy against Judali ; and tliis additional 
trouble so discouraged the King of Judali, tliat lie and 
his counselors were tlie more desirous to associate witli 
them the Assyrian armies ; that they might successfully 
resist this wicked confederacy, formed to subjugate 
their country and take their capitol. 

In this state of things, God sent Isaiah to Ahaz, 
King of Judah, to assure him that the confederacy 
should not succeed ; and also to rebuke him for seek- 
ing aid from Assyria, an insulting distrust of God. In 
connection with his message, the prophet thus pours 
out derision upon this confederacy : " Associate your- 
selves, O ye people ! and ye shall be broken in pieces ; 
and give ear, all ye of far countries, gird yourselves, and 
ye shall be broken in pieces. Take counsel together, 
and it shall come to naught ; speak the word, and it 
shall not stand, for God is with us." Then, turning to 
his own people, he assured them that God had in- 
structed him not to walk in the way of some of them, 
who would turn Judah from reliance on Him, persuad- 
ing them to look to Assyiia, and that God had inspired 
him to proclaim to them this : " Say ye not, A Con- 
federacy, to all them to whom this j^eople shall say, A 
Confederacy ; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid." 
That is, listen not to those who would persuade you to 
treason against God and the country, by trusting to a 
device similar to that of the ten tribes. To all them, 
to whom traitors say, A Confederacy with Ass3Tia, say 
ye not, A Confederacy ; forbid it. Tell them not to fear 
the terrible front of the Confederacy made by the King 
of Israel, nor be afraid of this combined power. 

Such appears to be the meaning of the text ; and I 



RELIANCE ON GOD, OUR HOPE OF VICTORY. 5 

liave chosen it because of similarity of circumstances 
between the government of Judali resisting the en- 
croachments of a Confederacy contrived by the revolted 
tribes, and our own Federal Government resisting the 
encroachments of a Confederacy of revolted States in 
our Union ; and also to show, that our hope of success, 
justified by the righteousness of our cause, must be 
placed in reliance upon the Lord of Hosts. 

Under the trying circumstances of this amazing con- 
flict, we are called upon to invoke the aid of the Al- 
mighty, who holds all circumstances and all successes in 
his own hand. In the beginning of this trouble, Presi- 
dent Buchanan issued a proclamation to the p)eople, in- 
viting them to the specific duty of fasting and prayer. 
As loyal subjects, we gladly obeyed. President Lincoln 
has repeated the invitation, and as loyal subjects, we 
again gladly obey. As for the course I take in con- 
ducting the exercises of the pulpit on these occasions, I 
act in obedience to my own sense of duty. I feel my- 
self now bound to speak pointedly on the subject of ab- 
sorbing interest which is brought this day, by our 
highest national authority, before the Church. 

The Church of Jesus Christ in this land has enjoyed 
protection and 23eace, from the beginning of our national 
Government. She has been allowed to pursue her ap- 
propriate work, not only without hindrance, but with 
all the encouragement she needs. In turn, the govern- 
ment and interests of the nation have grown up com- 
pactly into a mighty power, invested with an acknow- 
ledged commanding importance among the nations of 
the earth, largely owing to the prevalence of Christian- 
ized public sentiment, to which she is indebted for 
moral excellence and national efficiency. This country, 
we repeat, is peculiarly indebted to the Church of 



6 EELIANCE ON GOD, OUR HOPE OP VICTORY. 

Christ for every tMng wliicli may be counted in, as an 
element of its marvelous prosperity. Witli our civil 
o-overnment, tlie Cliurcli, in none of her denominational 
branches, has been connected by the interlacing bands 
of state policy and ecclesiastical usurpation, yet all that 
the Church has ever asked she has had — a free, untram- 
meled scojdc among men, to instruct, enlighten and save 
the soul ; a fan* opjDortunity to form the moral elements 
of good citizenship in private character, thus making 
the subjects of civil government better qualified for 
their duties to the State, by the force of inwi'ought 
Christian principle, and the inculcated activities of 
Christian practice in all the varied relations of life. 
The result has been most happ/To the spiritual and 
material interests of our people. Here, for the past 
eighty years, the blending streams of freedom, pros- 
perity and peace, have ii'rigated our fair inheritance ; 
the security of private rights, the liberty of conscience 
in any chosen form of worship, the diifusion of educa- 
tional benefits, the encouragement of all sorts of agri- 
cultural, mechanical and commercial enterprise, the 
liberal patronage of arts and sciences, and whatever 
has been invented for the comfort and interest of our 
people, or for the benefit of the world, have met with ap- 
probation and aid for the utmost good. Here the spi- 
ritual enterprises of the Church have been carried on in 
various forms, largely influencing our inhabitants to the 
attainments of the better citizen ; while the State, on 
the other hand, lias upheld the Church by a strong, 
moral sentiment, and a disposition to favor her institu- 
tions, and encourage every denominational eftbrt, put 
forth within the acknowledged legitimate sphere of her 
ojoeration. Thus Church and State in our land, are 
more intimately and more fittingly bound together 



RELIANCE ON GOD, OUR HOPE OF VICTORY. 7 

tlian ill any otlier ; not by tlie unnatural constraints of 
legal union in civil and ecclesiastical policy, but by the 
various strands of love twisted into a cable, whicli holds 
all the earthly hopes and loyal hearts of our people to- 
gether, just as a noble ship is held to her anchor in some 
sweetly becalmed and beautiful harbor of peace. 

It is not, therefore, to be expected that the voice of 
the Christian pulpit can remain silent, either wdlliugly 
or by constraint, when by any combination of circum- 
stances, this happy state of things is imperiled. Such 
silence would be base ingratitude, an unseemly want of 
sympathy, a criminal indifference to the dearest earthly 
interests of Church as well as State ; it would be trea- 
son to all acknowledged obligation of individual re- 
sponsibility, it would contradict the uniform practice of 
prophets and apostles, and the uniform inculcations of 
holy writ. The General Synod of our Church has 
loudly and fitly spoken, so have other and larger 
bodies ; but multitudes of churches connected with these 
various bodies, have sent forth their individual utter- 
ances long since, and up to the present time. You will 
bear me witness, that I have not discussed any subject 
of state policy, nor any political question of the day in 
this pulpit. Through the course of my ministry hither- 
to, I have never done so, simply because I preferred al- 
ways to give preference and prominence to higher 
themes on the Sabbath day ; and hence my references 
to civil matters have been rare, and only incidental at 
that ; but the time has come, when the example of the 
Church in the revolutionary days of our Republic will 
be, and ought to be followed. Wlienever the State, in 
her distress, looks to the Church for moral and relioi- 
ous succor, she shall have it ; and I suppose that every 
man will be generous enough to allow that no minister 



8 EELIANCE ON GOD, OUR HOPE OF VICTORY. 

ought to forfeit liis respect, by acting from motives of 
personal advantage to be gained tlirougli any tortuous 
policy. At all events, as a minister, I am responsible 
to God, and not to man, as to the duties of my calling ; 
and this fact must always prevent me from being in- 
timidated, or coaxed out of that course which my own 
convictions designate as my line of duty. 

The State paper which has invited the millions of our 
Union men to the unanimous observance of a day of 
fasting and prayer, has probably been read by you all. 
In obedience to its suggestions, we have assembled to 
ask and implore Almighty God to bring our beloved 
country out of her present conflict unmutilated, and to 
crown the efforts of the present Administration to pre- 
vent its dismemberment, with success. Here allow me 
to say, that the question which now upheaves the heart 
of the nation, is not a political question. He who as- 
serts the Contrary, does not know what politics mean. 
It is purely a question of patriotism. Party politics 
has nothing to do with it, as is evident from the fact 
that all good and loyal men of all parties have l)uried 
their political differences, for the present, out of sight, 
and have united in the common cry : " Our country, 
our Constitution and our laws." Patriotism is not only 
an instinct of the human heart, not only one of the chan- 
nels through which human love rolls its constant tide, 
but it is a part of our religion, for that requires us to 
render unto Csesar the things that are Csesar's, as 
honestly as to render unto God the things that are 
God's. And I believe that a man who, from any con- 
sideration, would be a traitor to his country, would b}^ 
that fact become a traitor to his God ; for God has 
made men the subjects of civil government, and their 
j^olitical duties he has prescribed in plain, direct, and 



RELIAN'CE ON" GOD, OUR HOPE OF VICTORY. 9 

imperative language : " Let every soul be subject unto 
tlie higlier powers, for tliere is no power but of God ; 
tlie powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever, 
therefore, resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of 
God ; and they that resist, shall receive to themselves 
damnation." This was Paul's politics ; the politics of 
no party, but the politics of general principles that lie 
at the bottom of all governments ; and this, moreover, 
is the politics he instructed ministers to preach. " Put 
them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, 
to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work, 
to speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, 
showing all meekness unto all men." So Peter taught. 
" Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the 
Lord's sake : whether it be to the king, as supreme ; or 
unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for 
the punishment of evil-doers, and for the praise of them 
that do well." Now, if such were 'the directions to 
Christians under heathen governments, how much more 
are they binding upon the subjects of a government 
whose policy and laws are regulated by the principles 
of the Gospel ! Therefore, I repeat the general truth, 
that disloyalty to one's country is disloyalty to God. 

This is the crime of high treason that covers and sa- 
turates the whole of our Southern Confederacy, as I 
shall prove ; and as the text is a divine proclamation 
against treason, it is a guide to the pulpit in our expo- 
sitions of the duties we owe to the State and Govern- 
ment under which we live. The Apostle declares, that 
" Magistrates are for the ptmisliment of evil-doers," 
^vhether their number be small or great ; and if it be 
proved that such is the character of those now in arms 
against the most beneficent government that the light 
of heaven ever shone upon, as numbers do not give re- 



10 RELIANCE ON GOD, OUE HOPE OF VICTORY. 

sj)ectability to crime, it follows, beyond all cavil, tliat 
tlie civil war in wliicli we are engaged is, upon the part 
of tlie Government, a war of resistance to traitors, and 
a war of defense against treason. Sucli being its clia- 
racter, it is a rigliteous war ; one in wliicli we are war- 
ranted to rely upon God for aid, and one in tlie behalf 
of whose success public fasting and prayer are eminently 
proper. But if, on the other hand, as rebels say, it is a 
war of aggression, a war of spoliation, a war j)roinpted 
by the lust of conquest, whose end is the destruction of 
Southern rights, then our fasting and prayer are of 
fensive in the sight of Heaven, and our armies ought to 
be routed and slain. In the present critical position of 
our national affairs, no man can be neutral and guilt- 
less, any more than he can be indifferent with regard to 
right and wrong. Therefore, the morality of this ques- 
tion biings it fairly and fully within the province of 
the pulpit for discussion ; and further, as we are respon- 
sible to God for the opinions we form, and the side we 
espouse, it is of the last importance that we avail our- 
selves of all the light we can get, to aid us in gaining 
right conclusions. With this view, we proceed to prove 
that our cause is just / by arguments that seem to us 
infallibly sure. 

War, and especially civil war, is one of the greatest 
scourges that can afflict any people. It brings every 
thing with it that can intensify suffering and distress ; 
a malignant evil that eats into the vitals of the body 
politic ; therefore, nothing is clearer than this truth, it 
should never be resorted to, even in the defense of as- 
serted rights, until all other available means for rectifi- 
cation have failed. No discerning mind will dispute 
this, for it is a truth of simple intelligence, admitting of 
no supportable contradiction. We rej)eat, in no case 



EELIANCE OX GOD, OUR HOPE OF VICTORY. 11 

ouglit war to be begun, until every other means has 
been exhausted for the redress sought by the compLain- 
ing party, even if the complaint be well founded, the 
injuries j^alpable, and the proof clear. Then, and not 
till then, is it proper to appeal to arms. But a war of 
defense is to be regarded differently. When an attack 
is meditated, or where hostilities have already com- 
menced, duty is clear ; as in the case mentioned in sa- 
cred history to which our text refers. A vigorous de- 
fense must be made, if duty be done. This is so plain, 
it will bear no comment. 

The question, then, with us to-day is simply this : Is 
the character of this lamentable war such as will clear- 
ly justify ns to seek the aid of God in behalf of our 
arms, by fasting and prayer ? May we rely upon His 
help, if we depend on that alone, for victory — as did 
the King of Judah in his defensive war against the con- 
federacy of the revolted tribes ? We reply, Yes ; with- 
out hesitation, yes ; after candidly looking on the other 
side in search of a single respectable apology for its be- 
ginning or continuance, that will bear sifting. What 
are the facts in the case % 

Peace, prosperity, and happiness, like the sunshine, 
for a long series of years, have covered our magnificent 
country. Suddenly the sound of secession falls upon 
the public ear. In a few months several States, to our 
amazement, revolt. They profess to have resumed their 
State sovereignty, and to have seceded from the Union. 
They construct a rival Federal Government. They take 
our Constitution, and alter it to suit their j)urposes. 
They organize a large army. They take possession of 
the property of the Union. They plunder one of its 
mints. They refuse to pay their debts to the JSTorthern 
States, amounting to hundreds of millions. Their 



12 EELIANCE ON GOD, OUR HOPE OF VICTORY. 

President issues letters of marque and reprisal to priva- 
teers to prey uj^on our commerce, and to capture our 
vessels, and to confiscate tlie property of Northern citi- 
zens. They announce tlieir intention to take tlie Capi- 
tal, and oust the lawful Government ! Each of these 
acts is a declaration of war ; but to put the matter be- 
yond dispute, they fire uj)on our flag, and reduce a fort 
by rebel batteries. These outrages follow in quick suc- 
cession, and for months, are borne with in the hope that 
reason would surmount the madness. 

To meet this stupendous rebellion, in obedience to his 
oath of of&ce, and his imperative, constitutionally pre- 
scribed duty as President, Mr. Lincoln has called upon 
the Northern States for armies to suppress it, and for 
every available means to put doAvn organized treason, 
whose magnitude and audacity have ap23alled the coun- 
try. At first blush, the world of common-sense would 
say, this outbreak is the overt crime of an unholy ar- 
mament of treason ; and this war a defensive war, a 
righteous governmental measure to overthrow and 
crush rebellion. Such is my belief, and I proceed to 
assign my reasons. 

I. Tliis vjar ivas commenced as a war of aggression 
upon the Federal Government^ hy rebellions States 
leagued in treason / and coMiviEijfCED in ceiminal 

HASTE. 

Whatever the complaints of the South against the 
North, just or unjust ; whatever their injuries, real or 
imaginary ; besides being constitutionally bound, they 
were, in all senses of Christian principle, honor, duty, 
and loyalty, bound to attempt a settlement before in- 
augurating civil war, the worst evil that can befall any 
people. Had the unanimous voice of the South been 



EELIANCE ON GOD, OUR HOPE OF VICTORY. 13 

fairly obtained for secession, wliicli was not tlie case, 
tlaey were bound first to draw up a bill of grievances, 
and submit it to Congress, or to a convention of States 
demanded, and upon tliis bill ask for a peaceable sepa- 
ration. Had they taken this preliminary step, and had 
been refused a hearing, and a fair chance to gain a 
peaceful division of the country, then it would have 
been time enough to assert the untenable doctrine of 
secession; then it would have been soon enough to 
have taken by violence the forts, and arsenals, and 
navy yard, and other property of the Federal Govern- 
ment, which in no sense belonged to them, and appro- 
priate the same to their own use ; then it would 
have been early enough to have denied that Govern- 
ment its constitutional right to carry provisions to a 
beleaguered garrison of starving men on its own soil, 
located there with no intent to invade, or in any man- 
ner interfere with the rights or immunities of the 
South ; then it would have been soon enough to have 
fired the first gim, by which they opened the horrid 
atrocities of a war, they well knew would bring all 
manner of evil upon the whole country. This they 
were imperatively bound to make the initiatory step, 
because the rights of the "South are just as amply pro- 
tected by the Constitution as those of the North ; and 
on all hands, conceded to be as much entitled to defense 
by the entire force of the Federal Government. If, in 
their judgment, these rights, or any of them, had been 
invaded by any one or more States, or by any law in- 
imical to their interests, they had their remedy as afore- 
said ; and if that had failed, then there would have 
been some show of reason for commencing this war 
against that Government, with the avowed purpose to 
destroy it. 



14 RELIANCE ON GOD, OUR HOPE OF VICTORY. 

But tliey did not make sucli a bill, nor attempt tliis 
appeal, because sucli was not their intention ; for their 
leaders, acting as conspirators, long ago began this se- 
cession movement in the dark, as we shall j^resently 
jDrove ; they ventured, in the outset, upon the boldest 
treason that the world has ever seen, before the last 
Administration went out of power ; and without sub- 
mitting their alleged grievances to any deliberative 
body, immediately flew to arms, as we now know, ac- 
cording to preconcerted plans, without any justifiable 
reason at all. Reasons, good and strong, they indeed 
professed to have, and to put forth, now and then ; bttt 
none knew better than these leaders, that it would not 
do to venture them into the ordeal of discussion in a 
convention of States, or even to submit them to the 
votes of their own j)eople unterrified ; none knew bet- 
ter than themselves, that they should most miserably 
fail to sustain them, in the face of historic fact, incapa- 
ble of being gainsaid. This was the cause of their 
precipitate and criminal rashness. They did not want 
any thing but secession^ no matter what interests out- 
side their own might be imperiled. A calm and fair 
discussion, in all probability would have been fatal to 
the scheme, and therefore they would not hazard it, 
but rushed their States into treason and armed hostil- 
ity. This, too, was contrary to the advice of one of 
their most enlightened statesmen, who discouraged, and 
well nigh denounced this movement, as utterly unwar- 
rantable and suicidal. The Vice-President of our 
Southern Confederacy, before he became the subject of 
such circumambient glory, made a most urgent appeal 
against secession, in the Hall of the House of Repre- 
sentatives, in Georgia, on the fourteenth of last Novem- 
ber, a part of which I quote to prove that the South 
shall be condemned out of her own mouth : 



EELIANCE ON GOD, OUK HOPE OF VICTORY. 15 

" By the law of nations," said Mr. Stephens, " we are 
bound, before proceeding to violent measures, to set 
forth our grievances before the offending Government, 
to give them an opportunity to redress the wrong. 
Has our State done this ? I think not. Suppose it 
were Great Britian that had violated some compact of 
agreement with the General Government, what would 
be first done ? In that case, our Minister would be di- 
rected, in the first instance, to bring the matter to the 
attention of that Government, or a commissioner would 
be sent to that country to open negotiations with her, 
ask for redress, and it would only be after argument 
and reason had been exhausted in vain, that we should 
take the last resort of nations. That would be the 
course towards a foreign government, and towards a 
member of this confederacy, I would recommend the 
same course. Let us not, therefore, act hastily in this 
matter. Let your Committee on the State of the Re- 
public make a bill of grievances ; let it be sent to those 
faithless States, and if reason and argument shall be 
tried in vain, all shall fail to induce them to return to 
their constitutional obligations, I would be for retalia- 
tory measures. This mode of resistance in the Union, 
is in our power. It might be effectual, and if not, in the 
last resort, we would be justified in the eyes of nations, 
not only in separating from them, but in using force." 

Thanks to Mr. Stephens for that speech, made only 
two and a half months before he was dignified as the 
Vice-President of a Confederacy, which, by his own 
showing, can never be accepted as honorable in the 
eyes of the world ; because the only course which could 
bring over their guilty heads a shadow of an excuse 
upon moral or legal grounds, for a disruption of this 
Union, the leaders of Southern affairs failed to pursue ; 



16 rp:liance ox god, our piope of victory. 

not by accident but by design : and each of tlieni, 
equally witli Mr. Stephens, saw that this coui'se was 
the only right one ; but because it was full of peril to 
their nefarious scheme, they refused to follow it. 

It is remarkable what great changes are wrought in 
some men's reasoning powers by vaulting into office. 
When Mr. Stephens became " Vice-President " of our 
great Southern Confederacy, he made another speech, 
in his own State, of a very different character ; yet in 
that, sj^eaking of the " Old Grovernnient," he distinctly 
says : " The President seems to think that he can not 
recognize our independence, nor can 7ie^ with and hy tlie 
advice of the Senate do so. The Constitution mal&es no 
such provision.^'' Again, thanks for this admission, in 
which the author utters what every Southern politician 
knows to be true. Now put alongside of these opinions 
of " Vice-President " Stephens, the official oath of Presi- 
dent Lincoln ; the constitutional rights of the Federal 
Government ; its definition of treason long accepted by 
the South ; and finally the imperative duty of self pre- 
servation, the voice of " the first law of nature ;" and we 
affirm you have come to the end of the argument. 
This Rebellion is as wanton and wicked, as it is desti- 
tute of the semblance of justice, and indefensible by 
reason and conscience. And when it added outrao;e 
to insult, by opening its stolen cannon upon us, it 
forced the war uj)on the General Government as an 
unavoidable measure, and as a war of defense, which 
there was no honorable, no justifiable means of escap- 
ing. We are therefore plunged into civil war, against 
the will of the North, and against the will of the Gen 
eral Government. We can not help ourselves. There 
is but one way in which we can move, and that is, on- 
ward vigorously to crush out this Rebellion by force of 



RELIANCE ON GOD, OUR HOPE OF VICTORY. 17 

arms ; for by tlieir own showing the seceded States are 
rebels, and it is botli morally and legally WTong to 
treat witli rebels in tlie attitude of hostility, and under 
the guilt of a breach of faith like this, of more than 
ordinary foulness. Therefore we are justified in seek- 
ing aid from Almighty God by fasting and prayer. 

II. Another reason we assign for the truth of our 
position is this : The ^uar noio forced tipon us is the 
vjoi'Tc of tyranny combined with treason. 

Legislatures and conventions are servants, not mas- 
ters of the people ; and whenever they attempt to force 
the peoj)le by intimidating measures, they become 
tyrants as well as traitors. Such is the bad eminence 
of these Southern bodies. Whatever may be thought 
of their comj^etency to originate, it is manifest they 
can not consummate secession. No ordinance to that 
effect, if valid at all, can be constitutionally valid with- 
out its being first fairly submitted to the votes of the 
people ; for as they alone have the power to create, so 
they alone have the power to dissolve forms of govern- 
ment. Now this matter of secession has not at all 
been given to the Southern people for their decision, 
except, perhaps, in one instance of a single State. This 
is a fact too well known to be successfully denied ; 
hence these legislatures and conventions, assuming 
tp-annical power, were traitors to their own State gov- 
ernments no less than to the Federal Goverment ; and 
having overawed and overridden the people, their con- 
stituents, they have stamped this whole movement as 
a mcked Eebellion, without any relief even from the 
plea of State sovereignty — a doctrine a thousand times 
exploded. Just a word on this. 

No State of this Union can be sovereign^ beyond the 



18 RELIANCE ON GOD, OUR HOPE OF VICTORY. 

limited sphere of reserved riglits. But secession is not 
a reserved riglit. It is not found in tlie Constitution. 
It could not have a place there, because one object of 
the formation of that instrument was to exclude it, and 
this was the great improvement upon the old Articles 
of Confederation. Besides, no government can be sup- 
posed to provide for its own dissolution ; the thing is 
absurd. This assumed right of secession is accord- 
ingly hooted at by the judgment of the world. No 
statesman, no man of enlightened views, ever ventured 
his reputation by attempting to vindicate it, until our 
Southern citizens found it a convenient pretext, in the 
absence of sound reason, to justify their consummate 
wickedness. Every president, every cabinet, every 
party, at one time or other in our national history, has 
disclaimed it as a political absurdity too gross for grave 
defense. 

But even on the supposition that secession is a re- 
served State right, because the act was not done by the 
voluntary popular vote of the South, it is null and 
void by this default alone. Nor can this position be 
rebutted by the plea that secession was not opposed by 
the people, since many and reiterated complaints were 
made all over the South on account of the usurpation. 
One of the protests of Southern loyalists, at a popular 
meeting in Alabama, before secession was urged upon 
that State, will serve as a sample of the bold, out- 
spoken voice of a part of the Southern press and peo- 
ple, when it could not be entii^ely smothered. " Seces- 
sion," they resolved, "is inexpedient and unneces- 
sary, and we are opposed to it in any form, and the 
more so since a majority of the slave States have re- 
fused to go out, either by what is called ' Southern 
cooperation ' or ' precipitate secession,' and that tlie re- 



RELIANCE ON GOD, OUR HOPE OF VICTORY. 19 

fusal to submit the so-called secession ordinance to the 
decision of tJiejpeople is an outrage upon our riglits and 
liberty^ and manifests a spirit of assumption^ unfair- 
ness^ and dictatorsliipy 

I am responsible for tlie facts I give you ; and liacl I 
time, I could quote many, going to show that the re- 
fusal to have this business intrusted to the j)eople was 
a wide-spread matter of complaint, and only to be ac- 
counted for by the fears of their leaders that this just 
measure would be likely to result in defeat. Secession 
is therefore not only unlawful in itself, but having 
been precipitately urged against the will of a large 
portion of our Southern citizens, was carried over their 
heads by violent and unlawful means. Such being the 
case, no one should fail to see that it is treasonable and 
criminal to the last degree of wickedness ; and that the 
Federal Government could not do otherwise than use 
every effort to suppress it, without being utterly faith- 
less to the high end of its own creation. Therefore, 
the justness of our cause is the ground of our hope, 
that the aid of God will be granted us in answer to 
prayer. 

III. Another reason for the support of our position 
is found in the fact that tliis loar was justified to our 
Soutliern people hy the grossest hypocrisy on the part of 
their leaders. 

The reasons assigned for the outbreak just at this 
time, are utterly without foundation. Ask secessionists, 
" Why is the South now in arms against the North, 
and against the Federal Government ?" You will find 
the answers to be as various as they are unsatisfactory. 
In general terms, we are told, it is " for the defense of 
Southern rights." But what are these ? Every seces- 



20 RELIANCE ON GOD, OUR HOPE OF VICTORY. 

sionist speaks of tliem, Init not one defines them. Their 
language is vague, because tlieir perceptions and no- 
tions are variable. Wliat are the Southern rights? 
Do tliey converge in the general legal right to main- 
tain slavery unmolested and unimpaired in the States 
that have it established l)y law ? If so, then no one 
disputes that right. Although heart and soul opposed 
to American slavery, I do not dispute it. It is their 
constitutional right ; and it has neither been denied 
nor invaded by any State of the Union; nor is it 
denied or threatened by the present Administration. 
This and all other State rights are secured to them by 
the Federal Government, while they are loyal to the 
Union ; and if need be, must be protected by the arm 
of the nation's power. And to give every possible as- 
surance, beyond which demand can not go, this right 
was affirmed and ofl:ered to be made perpetual by the 
last Congress, by the enactment of an amendment to 
the Constitution guaranteeing it forever. 

Do they assert Southern rights to be comj^rehensive 
of the right to take slaves into all the territories of the 
United States ? If so, they have that right. The 
Supreme Court, a few years ago, decided that the citi- 
zens of the slave States can, at will, take their slaves 
with them any where into all the territories of the 
United States ; and this decision, whatever may be 
thought of it, has never been resisted ; and the right 
claimed is, at this hour, the law of the land ; and the 
whole power of the government is pledged to maintain 
it, dislike it who will. Congress, at its last session, 
organized three new territories, and not a syllable of 
restriction upon the transportation of slave-property 
into either of them is found. Notwithstanding the 
outcry of insincerity, there is not a territory of the 



RELIANCE ON GOD, OUR HOPE OF VICTORY. 21 

United States where the slaveholder may not go with 
his slaves, and all of them very well know it. 

Do they mean by Southern rights the right to re- 
cover fugitive slaves from the free States ? If so, all 
obstruction is virtually taken away. With respect to 
com^Dlaints made on this head, Congress and the North- 
ern States have made all the concessions they could 
make for the sake of peace. Just look at the history 
of the past. The South wanted a more stringent fugi- 
tive slave law in 1850, and she got it. She complained 
of the Missouri Compromise, and although mainly 
brought about by Southern politicians, after thirty-foui- 
years of agreement to its provisions, on becoming dis- 
satisfied, it was repealed by Congress to gratify her. 
She wanted a legal decision upon the territory ques- 
tion, in her favor, and the Supreme Court of the United 
States on one of the side issues made in the " Dred 
Scott Decision," pronounced an opinion agreeably to 
her wish. This decision she insisted should be carried 
out in the formation of new territories, and it was done 
at the very last session of Congress. She also wanted 
a stronger guarantee against possible amendments to 
the Constitution prejudicial to the slave interest, and it 
was given. She demanded the repeal of State laws 
obstructing the surrender of fugitive slaves ; and even 
after this revolt had commenced, these laws w'ere, for 
the sake of peace, repealed. There is, therefore, not 
left the shadow of a reason for their violence and out- 
rage ; and the clearly proved duty of the Federal Gov- 
ernment to put down this Rebellion by force of arms 
is beyond dispute ; and strong is our encouragement to 
seek the aid of God for success, by fasting and prayer. 

IV. The last reason I shall assig;n for the truth of 
our position is, and must be forever conclusive. This 



22 EELIANCE 0^ GOD, OUR HOPE OF VICTORY. 

war is the ripened fruit of an old conspiracy — a con- 
spiracy^ hy SoiitJiern politicians^ twenty-five years old. 

None of the reasons wliicli I liave named, put forth 
at first, for the delusion of the South by its leaders, was 
ever meant to l^e a valid reason at all ; and now that 
secession, as they suppose, is an accomplished fact, they 
l)oldly admit their duj^licity, though not in words to 
that effect. They now tell the country that such were 
not the reasons at all, but something else ! They ad- 
mit the fact that this secession movement has long been 
in 23rogress, that the scheme has long been concocting, 
that efforts in this direction have long been made, and 
that the late change of Administration was seized upon 
simply as a favorable occurrence to consummate their 
project. Now for the proof Let us go back a little. 

In the South-Carolina Legislature of 1850, the fol- 
lowing significant language was used by her statesmen : 

Mr. Lyles said, speaking of the remedy for alleged 
evils : " The remedy is the union of the South and the 
formation of a Southern Confederacy. The friends of 
the Southern movement in the other States look to the 
action of South-Carolina ; and he would make the issue 
in a reasonable time, and the only way to 4o so was by 
secession.^ There would be no concert among the 
Southern States tmtil a Uoio was st?mcJc.^'' 

Mr. Sullivan said : " He thought there never would 
be a union of the South, until this State strikes the hloiv 
and makes the issue." 

Mr. Eichardson said : " We have no alternative left, 
hut to come out of the Government.''^ 

Mr. Preston said : " He was ojoposed to calling a con- 
vention, because he thought it would impede the action 
of this State on the questions now before the country. 
He thought it woidd impede our progress towards dis- 



KELIAIS^CE OK GOD, OUE HOPE OF VICTORY. 23 

imiony " He laad adopted tlie course lie had taken on 
tliese weighty matters simply and entirely loitli the vieio 
of liastening the dissolution of the Unions 

Mr. Keitt said : " He would sustain tlie bill for elect- 
ing delegates to a Southern Congress, because he 
thought it tvould Irving ahoiit a move speedy dissolution 
of the Union. ^'' 

These outspoken, treasonable sentiments, mind you> 
were uttered in 1850. Eleven years after, (1861,) in a 
" Sovereign Convention " assembled at South-Carolina, 
the revelation of the conspiracy, as running far back in 
the past, is more definite ; and the falsity of their popu- 
lar reasons more distinctly admitted. 

Mr. Parker said : " The public mind is now made up 
to the great occasion that now awaits us. It is no spas- 
modic effovt that has suddenly come upon us, but it has 
heen gradually cidminating fov a long sevies of yeavs^ 
until at last it has come to that point when we may say 
the matter is entirely rights 

Mr. Inglis said : " Most of us have had this matter 
under consideration for the last twenty years, and I pre- 
sume we have hy this time arrived at a decision upon 
the suhjectP 

Mr. Keitt said: ^'■Ihaveheen engaged in this move- 
ment ever since I entered political UfeT 

Mr. Ehett said : " Tlie secession of South-Carolina is 
not an event of a day. It is not ajsty thing peoduced 
BY Me. Lincoln's election, oe by non-execution of 
THE Fugitive Slave Law. It * has been a mattee 

WHICH HAS been GATHEEING HEAD FOE THIETY YEAES." 

" The point upon which I differ from my friend is this : 
he says he thought it expedient for us to put this great 
question before the world upon this simple matter of 
wrongs on the question of slavery, and that question 
turned upon the Fugitive Slave Law. Now, in regard 



24 RELIANCE ON GOD, OUR HOPE OF VICTORY. 

to tlie Fugutive Slave Law, I myself doubted its con- 
stitutionality, and I doubted it on the floor of the 
Senate." Shame on the traitors ! 

These are precious expositions of the duplicity of the 
leaders who beguiled the j)eople by persuading them 
that the election of a " sectional President," and other 
false reasons I have mentioned, should precipitate se- 
cession, otherwise they were ruined. And they give 
force to an article j^ublished in the Itichmond Enquirer^ 
a leading oracle of the South, in 1856, which says : 
" From the attempt at nullification by South-Carolina 
in 1832, which was defeated by the stern determination 
of Gen. Jackson, the design has been secretly cherished 
by a knot of conspirators at the South, of destroying 
the Union whenever the men entertaining this design 
should no lonsrer be able to control the Government. 
So long as they could enjoy its honors and emoluments, 
and use its prestige, its treasury, its armory and its 
navy, for their own purposes, they w^ere content that it 
should stand ; but the moment these were wrested from 
theii' grasp by the will of the peoj)le, that moment the 
Union was to be destroyed." 

Mr. Everett, not a Southern politician, but cognizant 
of their plans, declares that he was " well aware, partly 
from facts within his personal knowledge, that leading 
Southern politicians had for thirty years been resolved 
to break up the Union as soon as they ceased to control 
the Government, and that the Slavery question was but 
a j^retext to keep up' agitation and rally the South." 
Agreeably to this statement, when the " Ordinance of 
Secession" was passed in South-Carolina, Mr. Gregg 
said : " We have noiv accomplislied the ivorh^ after forty 
yea/PS ".^ 

In 1836, twenty-five years ago, a political novel, a 



RELIAXCE OX GOD, OUR HOPE OF VICTORY. 25 

copy of wMcli I have, was published by Beverley 
Tucker, a Professor in William and Mary's College, and 
a bosom friend of John C. Calhoun, called " The Parti- 
san Leader : a History of the Future." The dress of 
the novel was simply to save its author from the penalty 
of treason. Dated a score of years ahead, it describes 
the Southern States in a grand simultaneous movement 
of secession, issuing in complete success. This event, 
described as then happening, it was thus covertly pre- 
dicted, would happen. It goes on to unfold' an imagin- 
ative programme of a grand Southern revolt, and cer- 
tainly the plan of the campaign, mapped out in 1836, 
has been closely followed in 1861 ! 

These are the evidences, and more might be given, 
that the present Secession movement is the bursting of 
the shell of a foul conspiracy a quarter of a century in 
its progress. And although we have been blind to the 
fact, now that the missile has burst, we can easily trace 
out the connections and meaning of past Southern mea- 
sures. Secession was the controlling idea that shaped 
all their plans during this length of time ; and notwith- 
standing, by the advantages of the Federal Government, 
the Southern States have grown in prosperity, and have 
gained the power they now so flatulently display, it was 
their design to expend it in the completed ruin of their 
political saviour. Baser ingratitude, viler villainy, 
grosser treason never sickened the human heart. There- 
fore, by every princi23le of righteousness, this war, upon 
the part of our Government, is a just war. It ought 
and must be urged, until every head of this Southern 
Hydra is crushed. 

As I have already said, politics have nothing to do 
with this question. It is entirely a question of patriot- 
ism, a cpiestion of " country, or no country," a question 
of our continued republican existence. Let this Govern- 



26 RELIANCE ON GOD, OUR HOPE OF VICTORY. 

meiit be fairly broken up, it can never be reconstructed. 
We shall tlien sink into the imbecility of lielj^less weak- 
ness resulting from dismemberment. By the conso 
lidating power of a Federal Government, in whose con- 
stitution the political heresy of secession is not found, 
we have grown up a mighty country, commanding the 
l-espect of the world ; but only let this execrable con- 
spiracy succeed, and the very map of our national terri- 
tory ^vill show that all the prosperity, dignity and glory 
over which our good old flag yet waves, shall forever 
depart. Where is there a true patriot that mil consent 
to this terrible disaster ? Where is there a man among 
us so destitute of generous impulse, so lost to the hap- 
piness, hopes and political prospects of his own children, 
that can wish to outlive this dire calamity ? Where is 
there one so hopelessly blighted in the attributes of 
manhood, as to bid God speed to this hateful treason ? 
Surely it would be quite impertinent to prove that our 
country is worth preser\ang. Here our fathers lived 
and labored and died. Here their graves are kept 
green by the careful hands of filial affection. Here are 
all our earthly hopes, and shall we let this noblest of 
all RejDublics perish, founded by the wisdom and 
cemented by the blood of noble sires ? Shall we con- 
sent to throw away the blessed inheritance given us by 
the God of nations, a land of hapjDy homes and Christ- 
ian privileges, the like of wdiich the world has never 
seen ? No, perish the thought ! No, rather let death 
seal my eyes, than that they should be open for an hour 
upon the dismemberment of my country. If she must 
perish, let me perish with her. Then let this war go 
on. It is a holy cause, it is, on our part, a war in de- 
fense of law and order ; a war not of aggression, but of 
preservation ; a war not of invasion, but of resistance to 



EELIAXCE ON GOD, OUE HOPE OF VICTORY. 27 

intensified wrong ; a war for tlie perj^etuity of invalu- 
able blessings wliicli God lias given us to 'protect as well 
as to enjoy. I know no North, no South, no East, no 
West ; the Union of all is the pledge of our country's 
continuance, and the severance of either the knell of 
her political destruction. If, then, Southern madness 
decrees that we must have war, mth all its afflictions, 
as the price of preserving the Union, then let it come. 
We accept it, and appeal to God for his aid. 

When I look back but one brief year, and think of 
the extending prosperity and prospective abundance 
which covered our dear country, like the dew-di'ops of 
morn glisteniug to the sun ; when I think of our Amer- 
ica, the home of liberty, blessed by the lips of man- 
kind, honored by the vote of the world, thi'ust down 
into this unexpected tribulation ; her gallant sons slain 
in battle ; her tears of mourning and woe wrung oiit 
upon every hearth-stone; prostration and distraction 
marring and wasting her substance ; anxiety and ap- 
j^rehended dangers destroying individual peace, and 
tearing up by the roots social comforts, and casting a 
horrid gloom, like the pall of death, over her joeople 
from ocean to ocean ; when I think that all this misery 
is the work of two or three scores of heartless traitors, 
whose wretched motive springs from disa23pointed am- 
bition, and whose diabolical effort is to cut their way 
through, by the sword of civil war, to seats of power, 
and places of eminence which they have not the virtue 
or moral worth otherwise to gain, I can not but look 
upon their thickening guilt like that of Judas Iscariot 
going forth, with his traitorous band, in the hour of 
night, to extinguish the beneficent career of the Sav- 
iour of men. I look upon them with unspeakable 
loathing, as the worst of all bad men that have ever 



28 RELIANCE ON GOD, OUR HOPE OF VICTORY. 

cursed tlie world. May Heaven forgive them, while the 
Government shall be able to punish them to the full 
measure of their deserts. 

But, then, we are told, in the most pitiful whine of 
hypocrisy, that the Federal Government has itself 
opened this unnatural war. The sage Commissioners, 
whom rebels in arms had the impudence to send to 
Mr. Buchanan, to treat for tlieir portion of the common 
property, speaking of the noble Anderson, said : " He 
abandoned his position, spiked his guns, burned his gun- 
carriages, made preparations for the destruction of his 
post, and withdrcAV under cover of the night, to a safer 
position. This was war." "Will any one expect com- 
mon sense to rej)ly to such imbecility as this ? What 
an absurdity ! An Anti- Administration meeting in 
Kentuck}?^, by a unanimous resolution, has spoken the 
real truth in these words : " The Confederate States 
hy overt acts have commenced war with the United 
States.^'' That is the fact, die-sunk into treason's brow 
of brass. A more atrocious calumny was never uttered, 
so plainly apparent, that it is not worth a formal denial. 
The wholesale plunder of the public property, and the 
stolen guns of the South roaring against Sumter, opened 
this war ; and, as we have seen, such was the design 
from the beginning. Nay, secession is wae ; and his- 
tory Avill forever settle that matter. 

By the evidence produced, I think I have now clear- 
ly proved, that we are fully justified in calling upon 
God for success in this great national struggle. How- 
ever righteous our cause, the spirit of the text forbids 
us to place confidence in army or navy, but in the 
power of the Almighty, who holds in his hand the 
destinies of all nations. 

But, oh ! the fearful thought ! It may be that on 



EELIANCE ON GOD, OUR HOPE OF VICTORY. 29 

account of our national sins, and abounding wicked- 
ness, God in liis providence may be implacable, because 
base ingratitude lias used distinguislied mercies as cir- 
cumstances favorable to tbe increase of vice. SucL. lias 
been the case in ages past, when the mightiest monu- 
ments of human pride have fallen, and God has there- 
by shown that the wicked shall be punished by the 
^^^cked. Therefore, should our infatuated enemies tii- 
umph, that fact would be no proof that they are right, 
and we wrong, in this lamentable conflict. Egypt en- 
slaved Israel. Nebuchadnezzar triumphed over Judea. 
Kussia blotted Poland out of the map of Europe. 
INIight does not make right. This Avar is a scourge for 
our nation in the hand of God, and likely it will be 
well laid on. Be it so, if He sees fit ; we have deserved 
punishment. But God has much people here, whose is 
a rational hope, that he w^ill, in wrath, remember 
mercy. That the people may humble themselves un- 
der an afflictive sense of our great provocations and 
sins, our President has appointed this day for fasting 
and prayer ; that it may please God to pardon our ini- 
quities, and, for the good of the world, to spare our 
hitherto happy land ; and to give success to oiu* arms 
in quelling a monstrous rebellion ; to help us to quench 
the devouring flames of treason, and to destroy the 
plans of perjured treachery, whose aim seems to be, to 
put an extinguisher upon the world's last candle of 
hope — Republican Freedom. 

Let us, then, devote this entire day religiously to pa- 
triotism, to private and family prayer, in behalf of our 
dear country, now staggering under the shocks of civil 
war. Our duty is not exhausted by attending this 
service. Let each one for himself bewail his own sins, 
and his country's sins, earnestly beseeching God, for 



30 RELIANCE OX GOD, OUR HOPE OF VICTORY. 

Clirist's sake, tliat our Administration may soon suc- 
ceed in breaking the heart of this rebellion ; and that 
our dear old flag — God bless it — ^may continue to wave 
over every hamlet in our land ; its stars on the blue, 
truly representing an unbroken family of States, divine- 
ly upheld in the political heavens, like the planets of 
our system, enlightened and preserved by the great 
central sun of truth ; and its stripes, the perpetual re- 
minder of an old proverb : " Stripes for the backs of 
fools." 



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